Busy Week!

Oh my, it’s been days since I last updated my blog. I’ve been really busy for the past few days since Xian celebrated his 2^nd birthday then the next day we had our graduation (I’ve been working in a school for almost 5 years and March is really the busiest month for me!) then adding to that, the next day we had naman our 2 days company outing in short super tight talaga ng schedule ko and I can't even squeeze a few posts.as in!

Anyhoo, after my almost 1 week blog hiatus, I’m back! will do my backlog posts soon :D

A Letter To Our Birthday Boy Xian

 Our Xian 2 years ago

born on March 25, 2009

3:40 PM

To my baby love,habibi,chabibi,boss (as your dad usually calls you),

Two years ago you were born and that particular day brought so much happiness to me and to your daddy and to the delight of everyone. I remember the first time I saw you, I was still in daze because of the effect of the anesthesia that time, yet I knew from that very moment that it was really love at first sight. Just the same way, I have fallen in love with you even before we met.  Only seconds passed after I held your fragile frame in my arms but I know I’ll die for you. 

You’re so cute with your chubby cheeks, button nose, chinky eyes, cute little dimple and cleft chin. I was in awe staring at you. You are God’s greatest gift to us and our most precious possession. You are our happiness beyond our happiness. You are the one that uplifts our moods and show us to be carefree at times and you unleash the inner child within us every once in a while. You are absolutely our little stress buster.

Time flies so fast, you're turning 2 years old already! You're growing up too fast and I'm trying to cope up with everything.We always pray that you’ll grow up to be a good person, God-fearing, respectful and loving individual. Like all parents, we only want the best for you. Mommy and Daddy always pray that God will guide and teach us to be the best parents for you and being your mom, you make me want to be the best mommy and the coolest playmate that I can ever be.

We’re excited to see the man you will grow up to be, but whatever happens one thing is for sure, we know we will love him as much as the little boy we have today. 

Happy 2nd Birthday anak! Stay healthy, smart and a happy tot.We love you so much!♥

With so much love for you,

Mommy Joy and Daddy Allan

Xian's First Ever Bus Experience

This is a late post,but still I just wanna share it since this is another important experience in our little man's life. Afterall, this is his first ever bus experience! :D 

 Whenever we travel, we always bring our ever reliable family car Azul, who's  3 months younger than Xian. That's why he never experience riding public vehicles. except from his Lolo Oscar's jeep during his first three months.

Remember the last time when we went to Manila to meet the MomCenter staff? (blog post) We didn't bring Azul that time, meaning to say we have to commute from Batangas to Manila back and forth. At first I was a bit hesitant to accompany Xian especially the EDSA bombing that time is still fresh from my memory, what if ganito, what if ganyan? Sometimes you can't blame a paranoid mom's mind!

So to make the long story short, natuloy din na kasama si Xian.So when we were at the bus terminal, he kept on exclaiming "wow,bus!" He initially wanted the color yellow bus and want to ride there but the thing is Alabang bound si yellow bus and we're going to Makati that's why we need to ride on the red bus which is LRT Taft Buendia. After a little prodding, Xian decided that red bus is nice too. Buti na lang! While we're inside the bus and on our way, he kept on pointing other vehicles and exclaimed "mommy, car! ganda.. yun, bangga!" which got the attention of the man on the other side next to us. Kadrastic naman netong anak ko talaga!

my boys - busy watching the movie of the day na di ko marecall kung ano.

 my goodness!  super attentive ang father and son tandem.mana-mana nga talaga! :)

 our little Xian got bored watching and decided to count using daddy's fingers, but for hubby it's the other way around.aha! no wonder he's lazy to drive, di kase sya makakanood kung sya ang driver unlike this one.joke! :D

Too bad, I cannot find the other pictures. But anyway, all in all Xian's first ever bus experience is okay and the little man obviously enjoyed it. The excitement in his eyes is priceless! :)

 

Another Kulilit Story Part II

I was having a hard time feeding Xian last time.So I told him that if he finish his food kagad, we'll go somewhere. I just went to the kitchen to get something and when I came back, the little man is already there waiting for me ready with his cap, already wearing his outdoor slippers hold my hand and said "mommy,ets go (let's go)!"

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Last weekend on our way to my in-laws place which is a 30 minutes drive from our place, in one of our car conversations:

Hubby: Xian, like mo na ng another baby? 

Xian: no like!

Me: no like? why? baby girl yun para magpe-play kayo.

(no reaction from our Xian)

Hubby:  yung maliit na baby, gusto mo nun?

Xian: ayawwwww!

Ah ok,wala na kami sinabi.

But come to think of it,don't cha think Xian will be a good and doting "kuya" to his future sibs similar to these photos taken 5 months ago:

Our Xian @ 1 year and 7 months with cousin Vaughn while he's trying to feed him.

trying to soothe the crying baby Vaughn

teaching baby Vaughn how to play peek a boo!

Now tell me, you think he'll still say "no like" and "ayaw" when he saw a baby as little and fragile as this? Just a thought :)

All Time Friends @ Arkin's Christening

We don't always see each other that often anymore unlike before because of our bizarre schedule, our work and our domestic life but we always make sure that we're always present in each others important event in life. Just like what happened last Sunday at Arkin's Christening (Bes Mabs kiddo). It was a day of fun catching up on each other's lives and reminiscing about the past after all, we've been friends for 20+ years. I'm trying not to count the years but I can't help but see how much our friendship has grown.and yes, our friendship is indeed forever til the next generation of our kiddos! :)

Flashback, Flashback!

Frances, Dialyn, Shiela, Nancy, Bes Mabs and I have been friends since our Kindergarten days. We also went to the same grade school and high school. we had the same classes, ate lunch together and even spend our time after school hours together at the church's patio (since we all went in our town's Catholic school) and before we head home we had some kikiam-fishball and scramble moments while sitting at the bench to continue our unfinished chikahan which we weren't able to do at the classsroom.haha! we would always write notes to each other and exchange notes during breaks. It was as if we cannot live apart from each other. We do projects and assignments together in Frances' house which is just a stone away from our house, We love reading Sweet Valley High series, we had our crushes (good thing magkakaiba naman!) we shared dreams, we had our barkada secrets,we had our happy and not so happy moments, we literally grew up and matured together.

Then the time to enter college came, and we all went to different schools but although the communication became less, we still managed to squeezed some time for some get together.Growing up requires some changes but that doesn't mean you have to let go.

Forever Kumares. L-R (Shiela, Nancy, Frances, Mabs, Me and Dialyn)

The ninang's of our respective kiddo's are all in this circle. In our barkada, Shiela, Nancy, Mabs and I are happily married while Frances and Dialyn are both still single. Shiela is soon to be mom of 2 next month, Mabs is the proud mommy of the newly-baptized Arkin while I'm the mother of the ever kulit toddler,Xian. Nancy and his hubby Rico  were still on the process of making their own little one this year and the two single ladies? we're praying that they'll have their own soon! The more the merrier! :)

 The original campus girls during our grade school days.lol! 

(Dialyn, Frances, Mabs and I together with my Xian na obviously wala sa mood) 

Trivia: In our group, Dialyn and Frances are BFF, they're both happily single and searching for the perfect one for them. while Mabs and I which are also BFF are happily married and we already found our respective "The One" and we both have 1 kiddo, both baby boy din.hmmm :)

 The space between me and Nancy is supposedly for Allan and Xian kaso since wala sa mood si Xian, explorer ang drama ng mag-ama ko during that time at di ko mahagilap! When they came back,bumili pala ng toys.ay sows! 

chit-chat moment @ The Hall after the seminar.

Welcome to the Christian World baby Arkin! We love you so much! :)

All Time Friends! :)

To my dearest friends, I'm lucky to have all of you. Thank you for the gift of friendship.Looking forward to a lot of happy moments together just like the good old days.I love you all :)

Sapphire Mommy 101

I guess it's time for me to share some weird facts about myself, getting to know Sapphire Mommy a little more.Let's start the ball rolling! :D

*I AM AMBIDEXTROUS (able to use either the left or right hand to perform a task and write). Among my sibs, ako lang ang kaliwete in terms of writing. echa pwera talaga eh.wayback in my younger years I just don’t like the discrimination when all my classmates are using right-handed chairs tapos yung saken kakaiba kase made for kaliwete talaga.jeez! sa desk naman during our elementary days,may instance pa na nagagalit seatmate ko kase sakop ng elbow ko yung space nya ng sulatan.kaloka! But although I use my left hand in writing, I do other stuffs naman with my right hand.Up to now I'm still curious bakit ganun.weird ba ko? :)

Pero take note naman,some of the lefties celebrities include: Kristine Hermosa,JC Tiuseco, Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Ashley Tisdale, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Oprah Winfrey and the one and only, President Obama are all left-handed.and the list goes on. Oha! So hinanay ko talaga sarili ko sa kanila no,walang basagan ng trip! :D

Trivia:The left-handers’ primary distinction from right-handers is that they use more of their right cerebral hemisphere, responsible for image, visual space and sensory perception and intuition, in their everyday life. That’s why a lot of artists, composers, musicians and poets are left-handed.

*I AM AN OLD SCHOOL CHIC. I love compiling memorable sweet notes, love letters, cards, candy wrappers, old receipts and tickets, dried flowers, assorted abubot and just about anything that is memorable to me especially during our bf-gf days ni hubby, I love making scrapbooks way back because I really want to document just about anything.In short,sentimental!

*LOCO OVER CHOCO.Chocolate is my ultimate comfort food. mapa-cake, ice cream or candy or any dessert as long as chocolate flavor, happy na ko nun! Pero take note, I don't like the taste of chocolate drink.weird much?

*LOVE LOVE WATERMELON. I can eat 1 whole watermelon in a span of 1 hour,my ultimate craving when I was pregnant with Xian! No wonder the little man love it too! :D

*I REALLY WANTED TO BE A TEACHER. During my younger years, people asked me "What do I want to be when I grow up?" and that's always my response - to be a teacher. But I had a sudden change of heart when I enter college. I took up BS Biology. anlayo! 

More weird facts next time! :)

Xian on Turning 2

It was a whirlwind of activities leading to our little man’s 2nd birthday. In fact, we had been singing the birthday song to him since last month and he had so much fun blowing his dad's birthday cake the last time.

Our little one isn’t so little anymore. He's turning out to be like a mini-Daddy though.Here’s his “report card” at 2.

1. He already knew the alphabet in his wall chart from A-Z and what word corresponds to each letter.

2. Can count 1-6 without any assistance (1,2,3..6!) 4 and 5 omitted.hehe!

3. Can identify most of the animals and things whenever he saw one.

4. loves bread and cookies and his daddy's specialty "ginataan" mixed with rice.

5. knows when to say "yes",  "no" and "mya-mya" (later)

6. follows simple instructions and errands (like pick his toys, get something, rub daddy's back etc.)

7. absolutely loves cars. Whether riding one or driving his own small version of toy car. His daddy let him sit on his lap.He knows when to press the horn and to say "bilis!"

8. Still walks barefoot in the house but at times, will wear his favorite mickey slippers.

9. Very fond of watching cartoons (his favorites are Cars, Herbie Fully Loaded, Shrek, Toy Story, Madagascar, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Wall-E, Stuart Little, Chicken Little, Finding Nemo and Shark's Tale)

10. He is generous with his affection to us, he loves to hug and kiss and show us the sweetest smile especially when he's in the mood.

11. Loves TV commercials and dances to them using his half sway step or full way step. I think Xian have inherited his dad’s dancing skills (haha!)

12. He calls us  Mah-mii and Dah-dii in his most distinguished tone.

13. Favorite song is the instrumental song from Brainy Baby.

14. knows different facial expressions and make silly faces which always amuse us.

15. He is almost 3 ft tall (his pedia said he's kinda tall for his age) and weighs 15 kgs.
16.  His interests are Lightning McQueen, coloring books and toy cars.
17, already has a clothing preference and knows how to remove his clothes when it's bath time.
18. partly wean from the bottle, he's using his McQueen tumbler during daytime  but switched to bottle during night time. partly potty-trained, we're still on that process.

19. Gets excited when he sees playmates, but prefers older kids who run around (and whom he chases) rather than kids closer to his age or kids younger than him.
20. Gets smarter and smarter each day.

We really did not plan of having a big party for him since we’ll be having a simple  and intimate one at home to celebrate with family,relatives and friends on his actual birthday plus a family getaway the next day, we're planning to go to Tagaytay which will be Xian's first time. Supposedly in EK, but the thing is they'll be closed for public on the 26th because a certain company will rent the place for a big company event on that day. good thing I was  able to check it in their website beforehand. Anyway, I'm sure the little man will surely enjoy his day as an upgraded family bonding whatever mom and dad prepare on his special day, no doubt about that :)

Advance Happy Birthday baby love! We love you so much! 

I was browsing through Xian's old pics when I saw these pics. he's 5 months old here, look how much he have grown! :)

Xian's Photo Entry Won in MomCenter Philippines PhotoBlog Contest!

 

photo courtesy of MomCenter Philippines

I'm a self-confessed proud momma but I seldom join online photo contests, this is only the second time. The very first time was August last year when I joined Xian’s entry in MomCenter Philippines’s Pic of the Week together with other babies and toddlers of his age. But since the chosen winner is based on number of likes from fellow fb users who need to like and register first on Mom Center’s page before they can actually like the actual photo entry, Xian didn’t win the first time.

Then last January this year, my sister informed me that Xian’s photo entry won in Reader’s Digest Asia (I blogged it) How come that happened? I was clueless because in the first place I don’t remember any instances that I send Xian’s photo on that famous page. You see I’m very careful with photo sharing. Turned out, my sister send the photo entry pala! Because that time the contest's theme is photo that depicts Christmas spirit. My echoserang kapatid (hehe,but I uberly love her for that!) send Xian’s photo without my knowledge. Luckily, Xian’s entry won one of the major prize which is Troika Travel watch and some reading materials from Reader’s Digest.  Of course I just let my sister have the prize, for me seeing Xian’s photo on their page with recognition is enough.That's already a mom's happiness and source of pride.

Then last week of January,here comes Kodak Precious Moment Photo Blog Contest with the concept Any Christmas Related Photo and Why Do you think it is a Precious Moment? (Since the contest is sponsored by Kodak Philippines)

Having Xian’s winning photo entry from the previous RD Asia’s contest I join again. why not? I know every mommy will agree but for every mom, there’s an innate proud momma in us, but I know my limitations naman. Besides, life is too short to let every passing chance like this be bottled up.In my thoughts that time, malay mo lang naman.The thing is, I actually send my entry a day before the cut-off! Here’s the lucky photo :D

But lemme tell you first the story of this photo and why do I consider it as a Precious Moment:

This is taken the first time we set up our Christmas tree in our house. It's obvious, the tree is still bare with decorations,just a few hanging balls and Christmas light, yet the first time we light up our Christmas tree and we let Xian pose beside it, believe me,that’s really his instant reaction! there's a certain happiness that emanates in his eyes. Simple yet so pure,really a candid shot to think I just used a simple digital camera.

 MomCenter's Notification:

Then after two weeks after I send the photo entry via LBC (told yah, it's not only based on the total # of fb likes the Kodak representatives judged the actual photo based on their concept "Precious Moment"), I received a call from  Ms. Abby from MomCenter that Xian's photo entry won! They've been trying to call me na pala since last week but I'm always unattended.

My initial reaction is of course, happy! but a bit hesitant at first when Ms. Abby told me about the claiming of prize since we need to bring Xian to Manila. Di pa namin sya natatravel ganun kalayo! Supposedly,first time pa lang nya. plus hubby and I have work on weekdays, plus our schedule always didn't meet and a lot of PLUS issues.. So, isip-isip.. I told Ms. Abby that we'll inform her within the week what's the best date for us to go there since we have a toddler in tow.

 Our MomCenter Experience:

Then finally after a week,we came up with the date. After confirming it with Ms. Abby,we went to Manila last Feb 28, Monday. Xian's first ever bus experience is so much fun for him. We didn't bring Azul,our car because hassle for us,hubby's just too lazy to drive plus it's Monday.traffic masyado! We arrived at their office 10:30AM, we we're graciously acknowledged by Ms. Abby, Ms. Arbee and the pretty lady in red nail polish that I forgot the name, So sorry poor memory! :D

 I was a bit surprised lang because feel at home kagad si Xian,walang masyadong hiya factor to think he woke up early than his usual tapos long travel pa.  Very energetic pa nga eh. Actually beforehand, I'm worried that Xian might throw tantrums since that will be the first time he'll meet those people but on the contrary, Xian smile and answer their simply questions during our conversation (in English pa ha,kaloka!), shook the ladies hands and even showed them his bibo side (when we're at Kodak Philippines, he saw a picture of a dog on the wall and he identify them to the delight of everyone who's there. they call him Bibo Kid and Baby Rockstar because of his hair's tail na takaw pansin!)

At Kodak's office, after the conversation they handed us the prize which is a Kodak Playsport Camera Sir Jerome told us the details about it. For full details of the gadget,  here's the link. :)

 The prize! Xian's new gadget :)

Too bad I wasn't able to take snapshots that time (andun lang si camera sa bag,na-shy ako.hehe!) Good thing Ms. Abby provided me with some pics through email.  Then early this morning, they finally post the announcement of winner in their fb wall.

announcement of winner in MomCenter's fb wall

It was indeed a very fun and memorable experience for us especially to our little Xian, although I know he don't fully understand it yet, but I'm sure that this will be one of our little man's fondest memories of his toddler days. Something that will make him smile remembering, moment like this is indeed priceless :)

To the people behind MomCenter Philippines, Kodak Philippines, to my fb friends who liked Xian's photo entry, to everyone, Thank You so much! Xian love y'all! :)

Allan's Birthday

Since hubby love's birthday fall on a Wednesday and he's in Subic for 1 week because of work, we weren't able to celebrate his birthday together. He'll be home pa on weekend. we're probably going to have a simple post-celeb at home na lang.

Anyway, exactly 12 midnight on his birthday, I send him a very long SMS greetings I composed in my drafts few days ago.haha! Btw, ever since our bf-gf days. we always make it a point to greet each other exactly at 12 midnight during occasions like this I dunno, pero in a way it seems more special.

 Before I went home last night, I bought a cake and palabok (because I don't have enough time to cook!) the little man enjoyed the candle blowing, naka-ilang candle blowing kami because aliw na aliw si kiddo, a good practice for him because he'll have his own candle blowing 2 weeks from now for his 2nd birthday :)

daddy's yummy birthday cake from Goldilocks

 

 

because there are 13 candles, Xian did the first candle blowing, I did the second part because the candle is melting on the cake already. 

But you know what made me happier for hubby's birthday?

  A car stuff from HANDYMAN for the birthday boy!

I already got the gift that hubby's itching to have, but always refuse to buy whenever we're in a mall (probably because from the start, he's expecting it as a gift from me.teehee!)

WISH GRANTED!

 

the little man is curious about the stuff :)

I'm not yet done wrapping it,besides I'll let hubby see it first that's why I didn't remove it from the plastic after the store attendant handed it to me. :)

We had a long distance phone conversation last night and we talked for hours but 60% of that time is daddy and baby moment on the phone. Even though Xian's speech are still limited, sobrang nagkakaunawaan na silang mag-ama. Excited much for the weekend!

Belated Happy Birthday hubby! Have a blessed year.We love you so much! ♥

Family Time

After our Manila trip last time, we headed to the mall for a date with our little man.Here are the usual scenario whenever we're in a mall.My two boys had a great time playing around.

 oh so serious with their thing,boys will always be boys,right? :)

my little Xian is no longer a baby..

my baby love

After playing, we went to Jollibee for Xian's fave merienda, funny thing is whenever someone (kids of his age) will approach Jollibee statue, he'll say "no-no!" but when we ask him to hold or even touch Jollibee,he doesn't want to and kept hiding on daddy's back but waived and smile when we're about to leave.

yeah i know softdrinks is not good for his age, don't worry, konti lang naman :)

Xian is very attach to his daddy, no wonder he always prefer to sit on his daddy's lap. 

 Family time is always the best! :)

What Made My Day

this uber yummy crabs cooked by me? harhar,joke! of course cooked by no less than my cooking master boy hubby! Hay, just one of the things I love about Sunday :)

When Xian Doesn't Want to be Photographed

yes, he has that moment, too! :)

 

A Day at La Virginia

This is a late post of our Pre-V Day bonding :)

I was supposed to blog this few days after our family bonding but since I have a lot of things to do (and pics to upload!) from our recent getaway, I wasn't able to blog this on time.

Anyhoo, we celebrated Valentine's Day a day ahead as a family day. For the past week I've been thinking where's the best place to go within Batangas area. First on my list is Valentino Resort and Spa somewhere in San Jose, but few days before weekend I changed my mind although when I check their website it's really a nice and cozy place for those who want to have a serene getaway but having a toddler in tow,Xian might not totally enjoy it,you see I still have to think  of my child's happiness as top priority. That's why I changed plan.

The next option is La Virginia Hotel and Resort. I already knew that it's a nice place based on pics by some of my friends who's already been there. So one Sunday morning we headed to Mataas na Kahoy about 45 minutes-1 hour drive from our place. We just had a quick stop over to Lipa City to buy some additional snacks that we forgot to buy on our grocery list last night. We already bring our food because knowing the price of the resort's food,it will be twice than the original price.

My little Xian is so excited on our way pointing trees and animals and just about anything that caught his fancy.Then after a few minutes from the town of Mataas na Kahoy,we finally saw the resort's welcome arch sign:

 the guard will ask you first if you have a reservation or walk-in :)

We arrived at the resort around 10AM,Immediately after the gate open I was in awe,the place is really beautiful than what I expected! While hubby and I are busy settling our payments at the resort's business office, Inay, Tita Ninang Sol and Tita Ninang Twinkle with our little Xian were  also busy taking snapshots,my little man is so amazed with the "animals" he even have a closer look with some of them naming them one by one :)

Xian obviously enjoy his alligator ride  

while our little Xian is trying to fit himself to the busted toy car

 one quick family picture with the famous giraffe at the background 

We then headed to the mushroom picnic hut which can accommodate 4-6 people. While we're still at the resort's office,hubby initially wanted the gazebo due to the persistent resort attendant.I just tell him that all we need is somewhere to put our belongings and food.And because it's not yet the peak season, we  had the chance to choose what picnic hut we like.After a quick merienda and snapshots plus changing into our swimwear, we then headed to the Frog Kiddie Pool. they offer the best views of Taal Lake. My little Xian obviously love the water, as soon as we arrive at the pool he immediately said "daddy,simming (swimming)!" 

 Xian's first attempt,brrr quite cold pa.. 

family snapshots @ the Frog Kiddie Pool

a very nice view of Taal Lake and the whole place

wonderful father and son shot

now,mommy and baby moment with our newfound friends giraffe.lol

at the #8 hut, 8 is a memorable date to us - we got married september 8 , 2008! :)

The C's official summer photo 2011 - oo meganun! :)

a quick family shot on our way to Ifugao House 

 @ The Buddha View-Deck

before we have our lunch,walang katapusang pichuran! :D

time out,Xian needs to recharge! 

after a bottle of milk,he's so back to hyper mode, dancing and jumping and asking us to for another "simming" (swimming!) which made me think,pinaglihi ko ba sa isda 'tong anak ko?

Afternoon swimming @ the Dolphin Kiddie Pool. 

enjoying the water with daddy.oh my! anak look at your skintone!

We capped off the day with a few snapshots at some of La Virginia's famous attractions.

according to my little smart boy,this is a "zeeb-wah"  :)

Xian doesn't want to have a photo op with the orangutan.look at his reaction! haha.

@ the unique Fruity apple cottage

with the famous Buddha @ the background

@ the Ifugao Village.i so love the background!

camera trick c/o our photographer for the day - my sister Sol

my photo op with the so serious B :)

wacky shot of Xian and his tita ninangs

final shot :)

It was indeed a perfect family day slash pre-valentine's day bonding.it was a fun filled day of family togetherness.Cliche as it may seem but everyday is Valentine's Day if you get to spend it with the people you love  :)